


Monsters

by RedNightmare14



Series: A Linked Perspective [1]
Category: Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda (Video Game 1986)
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:26:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22091791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedNightmare14/pseuds/RedNightmare14
Summary: Never have you seen monsters like these. These monsters that look like you...
Series: A Linked Perspective [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590142
Comments: 3
Kudos: 97





	Monsters

Run.

Run.

Run.

Jump.

Tree.

Hide.

Another one. It can’t see you. You’re behind a tree. Now all you have to do is hide, hide, hide.

The branch you’re on is breaking. It’s a dead tree, so it can’t carry your weight. The monster will be in front of you. You can’t hide from it. You have to fight it.

Pain. Falling hurts. But you can’t stop. If you stop, you die.

You grab the broken tree branch and hit the monster. It yells. Those pained yells. They sound familiar, but you don’t recognise them. Just keep hitting until it falls over. Then, you can run away. You can’t beat them. You can only run.

An arrow hits the monster before it falls over. You hide behind a tree. You’ve seen arrows before, but never has one helped you. 

Voices are coming from where the monster was. “That’s another gone. It’s a wonder there’s any of us left.” Yes, yes it is. Another monster gone. But there are still dangers. You’ve got to run. 

You look out from behind your hiding place, to see if they’ve gone. Those monsters. They look like you. You’ve never seen anything like them before. One of them holds a bow, another a sword. They’re collecting the dead monster’s horns. Maybe they aren’t monsters. Maybe they’re lost like you. You don’t know what you’re lost from or what you’re trying to find, but you are.

Follow them. Something is telling you to follow them. It’s your instinct. It hasn’t been wrong before. Every time you need water, you walk and find it. Every time you need food, you walk and find it. You don’t know how, but you can. Trust your instincts. If it’s telling you these monsters are trustworthy, then they must be. 

Hours, for hours you follow them. You don’t know how you can tell the time, but the sun is setting, so it must have been hours. 

The monsters lead you to a place of many caves made of wood and stone, rather than being holes in mountains. Houses, you think these are. And this is a village. It is small, but you’ve never seen so many monsters in one place! And they all look like you! Are they all nice? Do they protect each other from other monsters like those monsters from before? Well, those monsters didn’t know they were helping you, they probably don’t even know you exist, but they did help, so they must be nice.

The village is beautiful. So many fires and colours that are not brown and green. It reminds you of a fairy. A giant fairy, like the Great Fairies. The fairies are nice. These monsters are nice. They look at you. You don’t like it, but at least they acknowledge you.

A small monster comes towards you. A female one, maybe. She bigger than you, but smaller than the monsters you’ve seen before. 

“Hey, kid. Where are your parents?”

Kid? Is that his name? Has she given him a name?

“Talk, kid! I can’t read minds. Where. Are. Your. Parents?”

What is ‘parents’? Is this the name of the monsters? Somehow you don’t think it is, but you also feel like it’s connected somehow.

“Whatever. You must be dumb if you can’t speak.” She leaves. You’re thankful that she left. She smelled weird, like flowers but not quite, and asked weird questions.

You’re still wondering about the monsters known as ‘parents’ when you realise you’re getting hungry. Things smell nice around here, like a warm fire maybe? But somehow sweeter. But nothing you recognise. Finally, you see apples in a wooden cart. You like apples. They taste sweet and are easy to find. Better than carrots. You take one. It’s bruised, but edible. It’s rare you get a not-bruised apple. They should be more durable. 

Another monster from behind the wooden cart grabs your arm. You drop the apple and bruise it more. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Don’t touch me. It hurts. 

“Hey, kid!” That word again. It must be your name, if everyone is calling you it. “If you touch it, you buy it. Pay up!” What does that mean? The man is riffling in your pockets. What does he want? There’s nothing in there. Not since this morning when you ate what little food you had left. Is he hungry? If you had food, you’d give it to him. But you don’t, and he has lots of food. Why doesn’t he share? In the forest, if you see food you eat it. It’s hard to find and monsters usually get to it first, but you can climb to get the higher fruits that taste better. These apples aren’t in a tree, they’re in a cart and anybody can eat them. Why can’t you?

The monster’s grip on your arm hurts. It’s getting tighter. He’s getting angry.

“No rupees! You thief! You tried to steal my produce!” He turns to the people around you. “Hey! This kid’s a thief! He tried to steal an apple!”

You wrench your arm from his grip and turn to leave. If he doesn’t want you, then you will run until he doesn’t see you anymore. It’s safer. The people are crowding around you. It’s suffocating.

“Thief! Monster! Food is hard to come by as it is! We have no use of a dumb child and a thief at that!”

You manage to squeeze between them before the rocks come. They hurt. They hit your head, your back, your legs. Everywhere. Why are they hurting you? Did you do something wrong? All you wanted was food. You run. You’re running low on energy. You’re hungry. You’re thirsty. But first you need to be safe. Safety first, then food. If you can find any.

A turn. If they look like you, maybe they’ll get lost like you.

You look out of your hiding place. You’ve run until there are few buildings around. The people here look even more like you. Dirty, hurt, hungry. Don’t trust them. They could be like the monsters that threw rocks at you.

Your arm and back are covered in bruises and your head is bleeding. Without food, it’ll take a long time to heal. Maybe you can go to a fairy for help? It’s in their nature to be helpful. They always help you.

Pain shoots up your arms as you are grabbed and turned around. Another one. Another one. Another one. Only one, though. You can handle one, maybe. You’ve beaten monsters before. This one will be no different. Your breathing is speeding up, though. You barely hear his words.

“Legendary hero…fearsome beast…magic…so much magic…” What does he mean? Why do these monsters not make any sense? You have seen beasts and magic before, but heroes? Heroes don’t exist anymore. They haven’t for a long time. If they did, then you wouldn’t be like this.

The man is shaking you. It’s dizzying as well as hurtful. “You! You know! You’re him!” 

No. No. No. No more. It hurts. Too many monsters. Too much pain. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Run.

Run.

Run.

You run back to the forest. You know the forest. It’s dark now. Where has the time gone? The dark is dangerous. There are more monsters at night. They like the dark. Did those monsters like the dark? They hurt you, so they must like the dark. All monsters do.

A roar deafens you. It’s dangerous to go alone. But you’ve always been alone. Tonight will be no different.


End file.
